Yarn production



May 30,.1944. w. E. N EFF 7 0 2 YARN PRGDUCTION Filed Dec. 20, 1941 2 Sheets-Shet 1 I T E1622 M'III'GHIEMII' INVENTOR ATTORNEY YA N PRODUCTION Filed Dec. 20, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 33, 39%

. acetate vaanraonuc'rron Williarn E. Neil", Richmond, Va as'signor to E. H. elu lont dc Nemuurs a @cmpany, Wilmington, Dot, a corporation or? Delaware Application Deceber 20, 1941, Serial No. scares (Cl. 28-7l.5)

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the production of yarn composed of. artificial filaments. More especially, it relates to a method of and apparatus for automatically winding an advancing yarn in a number of helical courses about a pluralityof coacting yarn-advancin rollers, at least one of which is positively driven. The method and apparatus is especially useful in stringing up a plurality of spaced, cantilever type, yarnadvancing rollers such as a-ieed wheel arrangement in a wet spinning process, i.e., a process in which yarn'is spun by extruding a filamentforming solution through a spinneret into a coagulating bath and the yarn is continuously removed by means of a feed wheel arrangement to a collecting device.

The spinning of rayon by the bucket spinning process involves, among other things, the step of passing the freshly formed yarn about a positively driven feed wheel of known peripheral speed, whereby the yarn speed is controlled and ,the final denier of the yarn determined. It is,

of course, important that slippage of the yarn about this wheel be prevented and, as the art has resorted to increased spinning tensions and to higher spinning speeds, it has been necessary to pass the yarn about the feed wheel in a plurality of helical courses to secure the necessary degree of contact and preventslippage of the yarn at this point. To maintain the helical yarn courses separate from each other and prevent abrasion of the yarn, the art has generally resorted to a feed wheel arrangement wherein a separate rotatable roller (usually thread driven) is mounted,

. in spaced relation, adjacent the positively driven feed wheel, and in which the feed wheel and order of 3600 inches per minute. However, it is not suitable for use with the greatly increased yarn spinning speeds of the order of 10,000 inches per minute that the art is now demand ing. This is primarily because of the dimculty of moving the hand rapidly enough and in the exact, required manner to wind the rapidly advancing yarn a sumcient number of times about the feed wheel roller and displacement roller to provide-sufficient contact to prevent slippage. As a second point, it is found that the yarn, once it is wrap ed about the roller of the feed wheel arrangement, cannot be directed into the collecting means by the action of a freely falling stream of water because water under conditions of free peripheral speed of the order of 3,000 inches per denier, of course, and had to be removed from the fully wound yarn cake and discarded as waste. Furthermore, unless the rotation speed of the feed wheelwas increased very slowly, the

spaced roller are, or one of them is, fru'stov Thus, helical courses of yarn passing about the rollers wLll be displaced from one another and advanced along the rollers as the latter rotate. Inasmuch as cooperating frusto-conical rollers and canted or assew cylindrical rollers operate in substantially the same way, the present inventlon will be described with particular reference to frusto-conical rollers having substantially parallel axes.

Ithas been customary, heretofore, when starting up a spinning position, to; pass the freshly formed yarn about the rollers of the feed wheel arrangement by hand, the yarn passing from the feed wheel rcller, or the spaced roller, being m troduced into the collecting means, for example, the spinning bucket in a bucket spinning process, with. thelaidof a stream of liquid under condi-= tions of free fall. Although this process is timeconsuming and requires considerable dexterity on the part ofthe operator, it has proved sansrectory for use with yarn spinning speeds or the advancing yarn was quite likely to-breals.

A similar proposal'involved the use of a feed wheel arrangement wherein the feed, wheel proper was formed with two cylindrical portions of different diameter, the two portions being connccted by a central conical portion. In operation, the yarn was firs passed about the smaller cylindrical portion an then, when the stringing-up" operation was completed, the yarn was transferred to the larger diameter portion which possessed the final desired peripheral speed. This process was also open to the same objection as the above one. Moreover, certain spinning techniques, such as those involving the use of a rapidlyiflowing coagulating bath, and

which have been designed for use with high spin nlng speeds, are not applicable to use with low spinning speeds. Thus, these methods stringing-up a feed wheel arrangement, involv log the use of aninitial low spinning speed can not be used with certain desirable spinning setups designed particularly for high speed spinning.

Automatically operated means of passing a yarn about a yarn-advancing means comprising two or more non-parallel rollers have been promainly concerned with the passing of a yarn about rollers at a high speed, nor do they make any provision for finally separating the free end of the advancing yarn from the feed wheel and directing it downwardly to the collecting means.-

rotating rollers in the desired manner. However,

this method is time-consuming and objectionable in that the auxiliary yarn must be wound about the rollers of the feed wheel arrangement by hand. Moreover, it is very difficult to operate such an arrangement at high speeds since the yarn-advancing rollers must be set in operation at the exact moment the advancing yarn is joined to the auxiliary yarn.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a simplified method of positioning a yarn, in a series of helical courses, about a plurality of spaced, cantilever yam-advancing rollers.

It is a further object of this invention to provide asimple, automatically operated means to position a yarn in a series of helical courses about a plurality of spaced, cantilever yarn-advancing rollers.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a means that can be used to wind the yarn about the said yarn-advancing rollers at very high yarn speeds, of the order of 10,000 inches per minute.

Other Objects of the invention will app ar hereinafter.

The present invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying illustrations, in which;

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing an apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 are side elevational views showing the successive steps in a method of positioning a yarn in successive helical courses about the apparatus of Figure l.

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view of a fluid yam-directing device.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken along the line l--'| of Figure 6.

Figures 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are side elevational views showing the successive steps in another itively forwarding a freshly coagulated yarn from a coagulating bath to a. bucket in a bucket spinning process. The rollers 2| and 23 are cantilever type rollers supported at one end by the respective shafts 25 and 21.

At least one of the shafts is rotated in a positive manner to advance the yarn at a constant speed and, if desired, both shafts may be positively driven to rotate at equal peripheral speeds. In the latter case, it may be desirable to construct both rollers of identical size. Alternatively, one of the rollers may be driven by frictional contact of the yarn. A fixed, yarn guide rod 29 is positioned adjacent the shaft end of the rollers to guide the oncoming yarn 3| on to this end of the rollers. A belt 33 is positioned over thefree ends of the rollers to rotate therewith.

Since the rolls are frusto-conioal, the belt must be held on to the rollers. For this purpose an arm 35 is pivoted adjacent the free ends of rollers 2| and 23. The arm 35 is pivoted at 31 to a lug 39 fixed on support 4|. A cross-bar 43 is fixed on arm 35. The cross-bar 43 is adapted to swing into contact with belt 33. A branch arm 36 is fastened at an angle to arm 35. A weight 45 is adjustably mounted on branch arm 36 whereby to cause a pressure of cross-bar 43, of the desired magnitude, on the belt 33. A latch means, such as hook 49 on the support 4| and a cooperating eye 41 on the weight may be provided for the purpose of fastening arm 35 and cross-bar 43 in an inoperative position.

The yarn 3| may be caused to position itself in helical courses about the rollers 2| and 23 in the manner shown in Figures 2 to 5 inclusive. Figure 2 shows the yarn being brought under guide 29 and over roller 2|. This may be readily done by hand. The guide 29 is positioned-at such an angle as to continuously guide the yarn on to the shaft end of the feed roller 2|. The

- belt 33 is positioned over the free ends of rollers 2| and 23 to rotate therewith. The belt is held in position by means of cross-bar 43.

Figure 3 shows the yarn, after passing over the roller 2|, being pulled over into contact with belt 33. The yarn may be passed under guide 29, then over roller 2| and diagonally across method of positioning a yarn in successive helical fled form of apparatus constructed in accordance.

with the present invention.

Figure 18 is a front elevational view of still another modified form of apparatus suitable for use in accordance with this invention.

Referring to Figures 1 through 5 of the'drawings, reference numerals 2| and 23 designate spaced frusto-conical rollers such as are commonly used in a feed wheel arrangement for pos- I (not shown).

roller 2| into contact with belt 33 by hand in one continuous motion. The yarn, being wet, will readily cling to the belt and be caused to wind on to the rollers adjacent the belt.

Figure 4 shows the accumulation of a number, of yarn windings in the form of awrap 5| adjacent the belt. Due to the pull on the yarn by guide 29, these yarn windings of the wrap 5| will be drawn back along the rollers to spread themselves evenly in successive helice along the rollers as shown in Figure 5, with a new yarn wrap 5| building up adjacent the belt. When the yarn is travelling uniformly along the rollers one of the helical yam courses adjacent the free end of the rollers is severed and passed to any desired type of collecting device The yarn may, for example, be torn, or otherwise severed, by hand at the point 53, and then the advancing end of yarn forwarded to a collecting device such as a spinning bucket or the like. The belt 33 and the dead wrap 5| may now be removed at the convenience of the operator.

Figures 6 and '7 of the drawings illustrate a fluid impelling device, generally designated by 6|, which is particularly adapted for use in passing the yarn 3| from the feed rollers 2| and 23 to a collecting device such as a rotating bucket. This device 6| is particularly useiul when the yarn is being spun at high speeds of the order of 6,000 to 12,000 inches per minute. The device 6| comprises a,nozzle 63 positioned in a support 68 attached to a base plate 61. The nozzle 63 is supplied with a fluid, either liquid or gas, through conduit 64. A fine tube 55, adapted to emit a fine stream of fluid, i positioned at the mouth of the nozzle 63. The base plate 61 is provided with a V-shaped groove 69 in which the yarn 3| is positioned. The nozzle 53 and tube 65 are arranged at such an angle to the base plate 61 that the fine stream of fluid II is directed against the yarn passing through the bottom of the groove 69. This fine stream II has a high velocity due to pressure on the fluid and causes the yarn 3| to be rapidly forwarded in a downward direction.

Figures 8 to 12 and 16 show the progressive steps involved in another method of stringing yarn on to the feed-rollers 2| and 23. Figure 8 shows the yarn 3| brought under guide 29 and over roller 2| where it is allowed to accumulate in a wrap 55 until the belt 33 is positioned over the free ends-of the rollers 2| and 23. The belt may be held on by hand, or it may be held on by a cross-bar 43 as shown in Figure 1. last yarn winding in wrap 55 is now torn or cut from the other windings in wrap 55 and is placed in contact with belt 33 to rotate therewith as shown in Figures 9 and 10. The yarn now winds on to the rollers 2| and 23 adjacent the belt to form a wrap as in Figures'Z to 5. The dead wrap 55 is now moved, beneath the winding yarn, to the free end of roller 2| adjacent wrap 5|. The pull of guide 29 again causes the yarn to position itself in successive helical courses about the rollers 2| and 23 as shown in Figure 11. 'One of the helical yarn courses 53 adjacent the wraps 55 and 5| is now caught in the V-shaped groove of a fluid yarn impelling device 5| (see Figures 11 and 16). The yarn is now severed approximately at the point 59 shown in Figure 16, and the yarn guided to the desired collecting device by the high velocity stream of fluid of the device 6|, as shown in Figure 12.

Figures 13 and 14 show respectively theyarn wraps 55 and 5|, and the belt 33 removed from the ends of the rollers 2| and 23 after the yarn is being forwarded in a continuous manner to the collecting device.

Referring to the modified form of yarn-advancing device shown in Figure 15, the yarn is advanced by canted cylindrical rollers BI and 33. The yarn is positioned in successive helical courses on this type of yarn advancement apparatus in the same manner as in the modifl-' cations above described.

Figure 17 of the drawings illustrates a pair 50 of fmsto-conical yam-advancing rollers 2|a and 230 provided with grooves 85 and 81 respectively. These grooves are made with suincient depth to maintain belt 33 therein. By this construction other means for holding the belt on to the rollers can be dispensed with.

The-

55 of said rollers,

70 against said belt to maintain l0 yarn-advancing rollers since the difliculties of stringing the yarn on the rollers do not appear in single or interleaved yarn-advancing rollers.

Obviously, any means for holding the belt on to the ends of the rollers can be used equally 15 well as the specific structures disclosed.

This invention provides a satisfactory method whereby an advancing yarn can be rapidly and automatically wound in a helical manner about a pair of rotating yarn-advancing rollers.

The invention also provides a means for directing a yarn to and depositing it on a conveyor belt, especially at high spinning speeds.

The means provided by this invention is eminently suited for use with very' rapid yarn speeds,

of the order of 10,000 inches per minute or even yarn must be passed in a series of helical courses.

The invention requires very little equipment over and above that required by conventional processes employing yarn-advancing rollers. Moreover, the process of the. invention is very simply and rapidly conducted.

No claim is made in this application for the fluid impelling device per se described herein since this device is specifically claimed in Millhiser Serial No. 426,184, filed January 9, 1942.

Since it is obvious .that many changes and modifications can be made in the above-described details without departing from the nature and spirit of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details described herein except as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of positioning a yarn in a secantilever yam-advancing rollers which comprises positioning a belt about the outwardly projecting ends of said rollers to rotate therewith, passinga yarn, and maintaining the passage of said yarn, on to the opposite end of one rawing a portion of said yarn into contact with said belt to rotate therewith whereby upon continued rotation of said rollers the yarn will arrange itself in helical form about said rollers, severing the yarn adjacent the projecting ends of said rollers, guiding the same'to a Collecting means, and removing the belt togeltlher with accumulated yarn windings from said ro era.

2. A yam-advancing mechanism comprising a' plurality of spaced, cantilever yarn-advancing rollers, a belt positioned about the outwardly projecting ends or said rollers, and means pivotally positioned adjacent the projecting ends of said rollers, said means adapted to swing rollers.

the saine on said 

